In Green Custard's second Friday talk, Geoff Martin explores the subject of Technology in Games. Topics covered: - The Impact of Games - Procedural Generation - Simulation - Artificial Intelligence - Multiplayer Green Custard is a custom software development consultancy. To discover more about their work and the team visit www.green-custard.com.

1. Technology in Games
2nd February 2018

3. The Impact of Games
● Humans like fun!
● Estimated $120bn global revenue in 2017
● 2.2bn players (all platforms)
● Demographics:
○ Average age 35
○ 40% women
○ Global reach
● Powerful platforms dominate
Master Chief says: “I’m
relevant”. Are you really
going to argue?
Massive market means massive
investment - technology is often
created for games

4. Procedural Generation
● Quasi-random generation with rules
○ Seed value fed into generator
○ Mathematical result used to determine content in-game
○ Same result for the same seed
○ On-the-fly generation
● Used for:
○ Textures
○ Sound
○ Loot drops
○ In-game events
○ Object placement
○ Map generation
○ World / universe generation

5. Procedural Generation
● Not a new technology
○ Earliest examples in late 1970’s / 1980’s
● Originally used to create large maps in a small code-base
○ No need to pack in large resources when distributing the game
○ [See also modern 64K demos]
● Early examples include
○ Rogue (tile-based map generation)
○ Elite (galaxy and solar system generation)
○ The Sentinel

6. Procedural Generation
● Modern games - Elite Dangerous
○ Reproduction of the Milky Way with ~400bn star systems
○ Tweaked to ensure known stars / planets are in the correct place
○ System contents and planet formation is procedurally generated
○ Star systems to scale

7. Procedural Generation
● Modern games - No Man’s Sky
○ Procedural generation taken to extremes
○ 18 quintillion planets (18x1018)
○ Procedurally generated planets, star systems - entirely mathematical, on the fly
○ Flora and fauna, spaceships and sound created by combining core library of “parts”
○ Showcases the good and bad of PG!

8. No Man’s Sky - the good ...

9. … and the bad

10. Simulation - Physics
● Real-time physics simulation
● Objects appear to behave realistically
● Water moves correctly
● People and animals move properly
● Increases immersion
● Dedicated hardware (e.g. GPU with
PhysX)

11. Simulation - Large Populations
● Cities Skylines
○ Every inhabitant is simulated - they go to work, entertainment venues and shopping
○ Has been used to inform urban planning, e.g. Norra Djurgårdstaden in Stockholm

12. Simulation - Open Worlds
● Massive interactive worlds that feel real
● People appear to behave correctly
● Animals behave realistically
● Multiple biomes
● Go anywhere
● Stuff to do everywhere

13. Artificial Intelligence - The Old
● Historically, AI in games was not “real”
○ Rules-based rather than machine learning
● Well-developed techniques to make a “good enough” gaming experience
○ Heuristic / probabilistic behavioural rules for opponents
○ Rules for responding to events
○ Markers
○ Cheating

14. Artificial Intelligence - The New
● Modern games incorporate elements of “true” AI
○ Pathfinding
○ Advanced character actions (flanking, etc)
○ Behaviour modification (“emergent AI”)
● Example: Left For Dead
○ Realistic undead movement through environment
○ Friendly bots
○ On-the-fly gameplay modification
○ http://www.valvesoftware.com/publications/2009/ai_systems_of_l4d_mike_booth.pdf

15. Artificial Intelligence - Cutting Edge
● Learning AI
○ OpenAI - Dota 2 (undefeated)
○ AlphaGo
● Trained by playing against instances of themselves

16. Multiplayer
● Real-time challenges
○ Many simultaneous player connections
○ Must avoid latency
● E.g. World of Tanks
○ Up to 60 players / battle
○ Vehicle movement mechanics
○ Camouflage (and update)
○ Shell trajectories
○ Penetration
○ Critical damage
○ Environment destruction
○ All in <50ms round trip
● MMOs
○ Sharding vs Single instance

17. Side Missions
● Massive digital distribution (Steam)
● Cloud gaming services
● Hollywood technology (e.g. motion capture)
● Graphics
● VR

18. End Game
● Wide range of technologies employed by games
● The software is very complex
● Applications spill outside of gaming, e.g. simulations, augmented reality,
movie industry / art, etc
● A waste of a brain … ?